1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for holding animals during manipulations carried out on the body of the animal and, more particularly, to a device permitting an easy, simple and safe operation during the castration of piglets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For supporting bodies of living animals during surgical operations or other manipulations on the body of the animal, there has been known essentially three possibilities:
First, a second person holds the animal by its hind legs, which procedure is not only expensive with respect to the expenditure of labour and inconvenient (heavy), but also unsafe, especially in case the second or aiding person legs the animal go, e.g. after having been frightened.
Second, in a castration device for piglets described in British Patent No. 1,239,569 the animal, being in a hanging position, is held simultaneously by the hind legs and the trunk. This position, however, involves pain for the animal and a not very quiet state of the testicular area, since there is a considerably large distance between the two fixing points located at the hind legs and the trunk, so that the animal may carry out unexpected jerks with that portion of its body extending between the fixing points, which would, of course, hinder the operating person in his work. Moreover, the construction of this device is rather complicated. A simpler construction has been known from British Patent No. 1,267,202, in which the piglet is fixed in a hanging position by its hind legs only; thus, however, it will hang by far less quietly.
Third, from U.S. Pat. No. 2,781,740 there has been known a castration device for piglets, in which the animal is strapped in a supine position. This position, however, the intestines exert a pressure on the testicular area, which renders the operative working more difficult (danger of perforation); in addition, the strapping of the piglets is time- and labour- consuming.